WASHINGTON–Credit union lobbying efforts in defense of the tax exemption were profiled in the Wall Street Journal.
The article focused on a Hike the Hill effort by North Carolina’s credit unions, including Joe Clark of Truliant FCU, who had 15 meetings with the state’s congressional delegation scheduled over two days ahead of the tax reform bill vote.
“Credit-union members across the nation made similar trips,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “Their main message: A polite reminder that credit unions were poised to defend a crucial federal-income-tax exemption, should eliminating it come up as part of the Republican tax plan.”
A meeting between Clark and other North Carolinians and Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry (R-NC) was noted in the report, which called such lobbying efforts “one brick in a fortress that credit unions have been building for decades around their tax-exempt status.”
The Wall Street Journal article pointed to $9.6 billion in credit union net income in 2016 that wasn’t the subject of corporate income taxes, a scenario that was described as “a thorn in the side of banks, which must pay the tax and have for years been lobbying to kill the exemption by arguing it gives credit unions an unfair advantage.”
The article went on to report on bankers’ complaints that credit unions have outlived the reason the tax exemption was granted in the first place, saying CU revenues are now going toward “purposes that don’t justify the costs to the Treasury, such as lobbying. Another example: The Sacramento Kings’ basketball arena is named for Golden1 Credit Union.”
The Wall Street Journal noted that bankers have been organizing their own lobbying trips focused on killing the tax exemption, but they often “lose” the political fight, thanks in large part to credit unions’ “secret weapon,” their 110 million members.
The Journal quoted Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, as saying Republicans didn’t consider provoking credit unions in this year’s tax overhaul. “I have heard both sides of the story from both sides of the spectrum and I do believe there is a space for [credit unions],” he told the Journal. “I think that place should be maintained.”
The complete article can be found here.